Analyzing Television News Coverage

Summary: Analyzes the difference in news coverage between private corporate owned stations and government supported stations. Focuses on station coverage of the Bali bombing.

In television news broadcasting there are two main styles, commercial and government. The commercial stations are 7, 9 and 10, and they are rating driven, which means that for most stories they focus on the area that would appeal to the most viewers so they can get the ratings, and thus the money. Whereas the government funded channel, channel 2 is not driven by ratings because they do not need the income, so they report the more factual, but less interesting angles, which are normally more informative and less bias.

On Monday, the day after the Bali bombing, the commercial stations tended to show stories that are more likely to keep your attention, like stories that focus on the families of the victims. The ABC on the other hand focused on giving it's viewers an in depth analysis of the situation and the repercussions and not trying to draw in ratings with...